Kiwi eCycle is an independently owned and operated eBike retailer based in Wellington. The company was started by JoElle in 2017, with the goal of building a business that made a genuine difference for people and the planet — at the time, she often had to start by explaining to customers what an eBike even was.
Kiwi eCycle's model range includes Marama (Moon), Whetu (Star), the flagship Waka Karaka, and Roimata (Teardrop), alongside an accessories range covering items like a dog trailer, panniers and a mono trailer. The company encourages customers to test ride or even borrow a bike before committing, so they can see for themselves that the bikes handle hills as well as flat riding.
Beyond retail, Kiwi eCycle offers eBike hire by appointment for exploring Wellington's coastline, including routes out to Red Rocks and the seal colony or around the bays into town, and Pactum Pay, a payment plan that lets customers take an eBike home and pay for it in instalments.
Kiwi eCycle is a Wellington-based, independently owned and operated eBike company built on a simple premise: get more people onto eBikes, and make it easy for them to do so.
The business was founded by JoElle in 2017, with a clear intention behind it — she wanted to start something that would make a difference, or contribute in some way, to people and the planet. eBikes, she found, ticked enough of those boxes that she stopped weighing up the idea and simply got started. Back in 2017, that often meant explaining to customers what an eBike even was in the first place. Today, that's changed considerably — customers already know they want an eBike, and increasingly they want to buy local, support a small independent business, and trust that doing so means better service and better products.
Kiwi eCycle's eBikes are named with a distinctly local flavour. The range includes Marama (Moon), Whetu (Star), Roimata (Teardrop) — including a Roimata Kakariki variant — and the company's flagship model, Waka Karaka. Alongside the bikes themselves, Kiwi eCycle stocks an accessories range that includes a dog trailer for four-legged riding companions, panniers for carrying gear, and a mono trailer for extra cargo capacity.
One thing Kiwi eCycle is upfront about is letting customers properly test its bikes before buying. The company describes itself as always happy to let customers test ride, or even borrow a bike, so they can genuinely judge for themselves — including confirming, as the company puts it, that yes, the bikes do go up hills. For a city as hilly as Wellington, that's a meaningful thing to be able to check firsthand rather than take on faith.
Beyond retail, Kiwi eCycle also offers eBike hire by appointment, giving visitors and locals alike a way to explore Wellington's coastline without committing to a purchase. Hired bikes can take riders out to Red Rocks and the seal colony, or around the bays into town — routes that showcase some of Wellington's best coastal riding, whether someone wants to seek out hills or avoid them entirely.
For customers ready to buy but wanting more flexibility, Kiwi eCycle offers Pactum Pay, an instalment-based payment plan. The idea is straightforward: choose your eBike, take it home, and pay for it in pieces over time rather than all at once — a "pact" between the company and the customer, as Kiwi eCycle describes it.
Kiwi eCycle positions quality and service as its strong points, describing itself as a humble company serving people in Wellington and beyond. The company has done the groundwork on researching its bikes, leaving customers to focus on the more enjoyable decisions — which model, and which colour — rather than getting lost in technical comparisons. For anyone curious about eBikes, whether as a daily commuting upgrade or a weekend adventure vehicle, Kiwi eCycle positions itself as a locally run option built on hands-on testing, flexible payment options, and genuine enthusiasm for getting more people riding.